Maybe spending all that money is paying off for Netflix.

According to a survey by Morgan Stanley, nearly 30% of consumers identified Netflix has having the “best” original content over any other premium-TV or subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) service, and that includes typical winner HBO.

“This comes as we estimate that in 2016 Netflix will spend more on (original programming) than HBO for the first time,” wrote the Morgan Stanley analysts, led by Benjamin Swinburne, as reported in Variety.

Netflix will spend as much as $2.5 billion on content in the U.S. this year, projects the investment bank, compared to $1.8 billion for Time Warner’s HBO and about $700 million for CBS’s Showtime. Netflix itself has said it expects to spend $5 billion globally on content this year alone.

This is the first time Netflix has led the field in the six years that Morgan Stanley has been conducting the survey, says Variety. Some 29% of those surveyed said Netflix had the best original shows, up from 23% last year. HBO, meanwhile, came in at second place with 18%, down significantly from 31% last year. Perhaps HBO would have fared better had Morgan Stanley run the survey after Game of Thrones premieres on April 24.

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HBO’s storied Sunday night has been less powerful lately with its line-up of Vinyl — a music-based series from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter that didn’t seem to resonate with viewers as expected — Girls and Togetherness. Vinyl has been renewed for a second season, while Girls will run only one more season and Mark and Jay Duplass’ Togetherness wrapped its two-season run on Sunday, April 10.

Meanwhile, Showtime, Hulu and Amazon lagged far behind with 4 to 5% each. Starz won 2% of responses, according to the survey.

The report’s results come just as Netflix is preparing to increase the subscriber fee for its most popular tier to $9.99, up from $7.99, a 25% jump.

Nearly half of Netflix’s subscribers said the service’s original programming was why they stuck around, up from 34% last year. To some extent, Netflix’s success means success for everyone else, with 49% saying that they also have a subscription to HBO. Some 35% of respondents pay for Showtime. Of the total respondents, 40% pay for HBO and 28% pay for Showtime.

READ MORE: Variety, Business Insider

[Image of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black courtesy of Variety]

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